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Main Description
When we say “1962” Strat® plate – this is the hole pattern we normally refer to – officially it ran from 1959 through until the early months of 1963, but because on the 62 has really been re-issued with any kind of regularity, the names kind of stuck.
It actually represents a middle point between the 8 hole 50s pattern (what we’d call a 54 or 57 spec plate) and the modern plate that came in after 1963 – it’s actually almost identical to the later model, but the mounting screw between the neck and middle pickup is slap bang in the middle, where on the modern version, it’s almost on top of the middle pickup.
Actually a fairly specific plate to be honest, short of a Fender® “full fat” re-issue from this period, they don’t turn up all that often on your average Strat® (although it’s fair to say they do crop up with some regularity on non-Fender® guitars in similar styles)
As always with pickguards for the Stratocaster® - it’s worth remembering that all the naming conventions and dates relate specifically to guitars produced in the USA, and to a lesser extent, in Mexico – they’re fairly on the ball when it comes to sticking to the standards, so for the most part, they don’t cause any problems.
Where the system does fall down, is with your “imports” – Fender® Japan and Squier® have muddied the waters slightly – if you’re dealing with a 60s inspired guitar from the far east, its really worth checking out the hole plan in the Technical specifications to make sure it all matches up. Guitars like the Squier® Classic Vibe 60s for example, might look every inch the 62 re-issue, but the plates actually a modern example (the same is true of the CS50 – it’s not a 50s plate, it’s a modern one, but with only 8 holes!)
But enough about the history and the manufacturers little niggles – how about a bit about the plate?
It’s exactly how you’d expect a plate for a Strat® to be really, routed out for 3 single coils, a switch and 3 holes for the pots (drilled out to 10mm to take CTS pots) and the 11 mounting holes around the edge with that odd one between the middle and neck pickup which sets it apart.
The plate itself is made for a 3 ply laminate of PVC, purely because it’s the best material for the job. Whilst it’s true to say that various other plastics have been used, most had their draw backs sadly – fine for historical accuracy, but a bit of a pig in day to day life. PVC is heat resistant to avoid warping, its colour fast, so will never change colour as it ages (although, as with most things, it’ll still nicotine stain, it’ll still bleach in the sun if you leave it there for a few weeks!).
So if you’re working on a Strat® from the late 50s or early 60s, or one of the re-issues or re-imaginings, then this is the one you need, all built up with modern materials to avoid the little flaws of the originals, in a nice range of colours.
A Closer Look and what to look out for
Fender®, Squier®, Strat® and Stratocaster® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and Axesrus® has no affiliation with FMIC
Other Part Compatibility
The Stratocater® is, thankfully, fairly plain sailing when it comes to combatible parts - theres a few historic points of note to watch out for, but for the most part, if it looks like it fits? It probably fits onto the plate!
Why Can/Cant I move pot holes?
Right then - this has been in the offing for a while now, so probably worth explaining whats going on with the pot hole options!
We're, slowly but surely, switching all of our pickguard stock over to "No pot" versions - and that means we can drill them out to order - so if your in the mood for switching over to master tone, master volume? Just Volume? No holes? Or just moving the volume pot out of the way so you dont keep hitting the thing? You can - its an easy job, so its all done at no extra cost, and it gets you dangerously close to custom pickguards without the supidly long lead times and eye watering costs!
However - theres a few little caveats that are worth noting.
Returns
Lets get the elephant in the room out of the way first eh?
Once pickguards are drilled - theres no going back - so worth being aware that once its drilled, its yours - the pickguards come with a standard config loaded up, so whilst these are drilled to order, we will accept them back as a return/refund if you change your mind. (and obviously, if the plates shipped without any holes in there, no harm no foul - can come back!)
Any deviation from "the standard" (remember, thats no always 1V 2T "normal layout" though) - the pickguard is no longer returnable. Frankly, it makes selling the returns next to impossible. I wish it wasn't, but lets be honest - you can make some pretty weird setups here, so lets just be sensible about it. If its non-standard, its non-returnable.
So, its really worth using all the resources here to make sure its exactly what you want before commiting to buy the thing! Theres spec diagrams under the tech spec tab, theres photos of all the colours under the "Tortoise shell/whites/pearls explained" tabs - your as well informed with what your getting as you can be (and again, if in doubt? Just buy the thing without the pot holes and drill it out yourself - 10mm drill bit and a cordless drill - easy job - we'll even tell you where to put the holes)
Why cant i do it on all colours?
Put simply? Because some of the plates are already drilled out - we're switching the entire stock over as we get new plates in, but as you can imagine, its not exactly a quick process. Anything where you can customise, you'll be faced with the drop down menus to select what you want (and the picture updates to show what your getting) - anything you cant customise, will revert back to "standard" and show the "Please Note - The selected colour/material is currently not available for customisation" message - you can still order the plate, but you cant move the pot holes unfortunately.
What is Pickguard Style/Mount?
Rather then having multiple product listings on the site to cover "minor" variations within pickguards (especially in the more specialist stuff!) - we're just building them in as options within single products - so with common plates, like an Modern Strat? You can pick between left and right handed versions - more niche stuff? Like the Locking Trem plate - thats got loads more options in there, right down to pickup options (HBSCSC, SCSCSC and HBSCHB) - just keeps the site looking tidy, even if it does hide a few of the options a little deeper. Easier to dig deeper then have to trawl through 10 pages of completely irrelivent plates though!
Hole Postitioning
This is, despite my best efforts - dull as dish water! I'm describing the space between holes here, so dont expect anything life changing - but, worth having the details, and i'll try and include a few little tit-bits to watch out for. Just remember, that the holes are drilled out to 10mm, so they'll take Alpha, CTS and Bournes pots.
And in closing - Pickguards, once drilled away from the standard hole plan, come under the remit of Custom work and as always, if you've got any questions what so ever, please feel free to get in touch with us and we can talk through all the finer details of your proposed build.
Tortoise Shell Explained
You’ve probably noticed with the pickguards, we do A LOT of different variations in tortoise shells – and even then, we barely scratch the surface when it comes to completing the line-up.
Basically, Tortoise shell, originally, way back when, when it first started (long before the electric guitar was a thing) was just that – pieces of a tortoises shell, fixed together into a shape, and polished until semi-transparent (some of the early acoustic pickguards were actually made this way)
Now, obviously, none of us want to see a return to those practises, but seemingly, everyone liked “the look” – so with the advent of plastic in the early part of the 20th century, science found a cheaper way (it wasn’t until the seventies when trade in hawksbill turtle (the main source of Tortoise shell) shells became illegal!)
The first “plastic” Tortoise Shells were made from Nitrate plastics, usually Celluloid – and, frankly, it’s pretty gorgeous! Its semi-transparent, it’s got a sort of leopard skin look to it, and it soon worked its way onto guitars (again, most acoustics)
The problem is – Celluloid plastics are astonishingly flammable – they have a low point of combustion, and once they’re burning, they don’t go out until the fuels gone, or they flame is deprived of oxygen. As you can imagine, no one really liked working with Celluloid. It was risky to use (cutting = friction = heat) it was dangerous to store, and it wasn’t really suitable for the job at hand ( it changed colour when exposed to sunlight, it warped, it shrank, it was generally, pretty badly behaved!)
Never the less, it did eventually find its way onto electric guitars by the late 50s and early 60s, but was soon replaced for something more suitable and much safer.
Nowadays, you see Tortoise shells in either Polyoxymethylene (more stable as a material, but still very flammable) or PVC (which is fairly bomb proof, but does give off toxic fumes if burnt)
Now, getting to the modern day – Tortoise shell comes in 5 “variants” for us (ignoring the Celluloid offerings, they’re still out there, and great for historical accuracy, but just be VERY careful with them – not only in buying them/storing your guitar once its fitted, but also in actually sourcing the stuff, we’ve yet to find a factory who will even consider making a plate with it (too big a fire risk) and even when we do, its very cost prohibitive (more expensive to buy the things then we could ever dream of selling them for!) – there are guys out there making them though – but as a rough guide, expect to pay upwards of £150+)
Pearls Explained
Pearloid plates are similar to the tortoise shells, but theres a little less subtly between them, and they dont really have anything overly interesting in their history - as far as i can tell, they're always been PVC, and the variations in colour and pattern are pretty easy to follow.
So lets take a closer look.
"Whites & Creams" Explained
Ok, even i'll conceed that this isn't the most thrilling of toics at this point, but there is actually plenty of confusion when it comes to the "off white" pickguard colours, so seeing as we're ticking off pearls and tortoise shell varients, we might as well address the parchments, mints and creams too.
So lets get stuck in
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